Joined: 29 Sep 2004Posts: 1196Location: buried under a pile of books somewhere in Adelaide, South Australia

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:50 pm Post subject:

Great to read about your trip, David - sounds like you had a lovely time. An eclipse - wish I'd seen it, specially at P'town. Glad you enjoyed Napi's - did you see the freeform brick wall? Greg was most impressed with it.

And meeting C&Zers is always a great experience.

So, where to next?_________________Doing what you like is freedom
Liking what you do is happiness

Flew back to Boston as the only passenger in an 8 seater and had to circle the airport for ages while they cleared a runway (for me!!!!)

They had to remove all your fans and the paparazzi - it's your own fault for being famous!!

Cor! Being around two (not, one, but two!) fab women as well... AND in the right city - and with all that good food too! I am sooo impressed... and now I have yet another place I want to go to... sigh!_________________Confusion comes fitted as standard.

You're right Griffin! Damn those paparazzi! Boston appears to be exactly what I wanted--pretty, cultured and playful and immensely walkable!
The eclipse was perfect as it happened in a clear sky, watering shimmering beneath and around 10-10:30 in the evening so one didn't have to get up at 3 or anything foolish like that!

Well Donna------if we can't meet in Paris----we could always have P-town!
(or Boston)_________________Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

Had another little trip to Boston----the most beautiful city this side of Paris I reckon!! Did more walking than I had in years!

Met the ever-vivacious cigalechanta for lunch at La Voile, 261 Newbury Street and we both enjoyed des Salade Composee, in this case based on Provencal ingredients--anchovies, olives, tuna, frisee---along with a pleasant bottle of Rose. It was a glorious day, cool but brightly sunny--and after leaving cigalechanta at Filene's i took off and thoroughly enjoyed following the Liberty Trail past many of Boston's most important sites. Further this led me to Hanover Street which is the heart of Boston's huge Italian community. Amazing! And i got a cannoli from Mike's italian Pastries (recommended by Erin!) Thanks Erin! I had planned to have my second dinner in the Italian neighbourhood (the North End) but the evening before I was walking back from Aquitaine (yes I know I went there in February but i love it!) and while passing the Boston Symphony Hall noticed how happy the leaving hordes were! So I checked out what was playing and it turned out to be Garrison Keillor with the Boston Pops Orchestra. So I got a ticket for what proved to be a delightfully sentimental and heartwarming show put on by an American original but had to settle for a quick and not particularly memorable Thai dinner at the nearby Bangkok City Restaurant on Massachusetts Ave..

The first I went to the lovely and eccentric Isabel Stewart Gardner Museum where I not only enjoyed the art, the architecture but a pretty decent lunch as well. I then spent a number of hours at the Museum of Fine Art where I wandered until my eyes and brain were numb! Sadly an attempt to revive myself with tea and desert at the cafe there was a bit of a disappointment.

although the biggest disappointment was not having been able to track down sweetbabyjames and arrange a rendez vous with that lovely person!_________________Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

David thank you for introducing me to my own country--I had to google the Isabel Stewart Gardner Museum, and there it was in all its fascination-- even some criminal intrigue--
"On the morning of March 18, 1990, thieves disguised as police officers broke into the museum and stole thirteen works of art, including a painting by Vermeer (The Concert) and three Rembrandts (two paintings, including his only seascape The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, and a small self-portrait print) as well as works by Manet, Degas, Govaert Flinck, and a French and a Chinese artifact. It is considered the biggest art theft in US history and remains unsolved." (from Wikipedia)
I enjoyed your post!

And to top it off gingerpale---in her will Isabel Gardner (aka Mrs. Jack) stipulated that the pictures were never to be re-arranged from the way she had placed them----so the spots where the purloined paintings were once exhibited remain empty-----blank save for a small note saying what missing painting should have been there._________________Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

David! I can't believe I missed your visit (though I thought I felt a disturbance in the force). Glad you got to see the Gardner though, that place is a real gem. Doesn't it make you want to move right in? And have coffee & croissants in your bathrobe at a little table for two in the atrium.